Wendy Lecker: Opportunities of school integration

Published 5:03 pm, Friday, August 9, 2013

Fifty years ago, Alabama Gov. George Wallace infamously declared, "Segregation now, segregation tomorrow and segregation forever," while Martin Luther King Jr. challenged us to imagine the day when our country's children would "live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."

And here we are, in 2013, witnessing the racist rant of an NFL player, racist jokes by a cooking host and, more tragically, the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, an African-American teenager, who aroused the suspicion of his killer by being an African-American teenage male with a hoodie in an unfamiliar neighborhood.

All are recent and vivid reminders that racial stereotypes and racism have a strong and enduring grip on our nation. No one can seriously argue that we are living in a "post-racial" society.

In Connecticut, issues of race are ever-present. We have not achieved the goal of providing Connecticut's children with racially integrated schools. And some of our elected and appointed officials are actually moving us in the wrong direction.

On the front page of The New York Times, Greenwich's superintendent criticized the state's racial balancing law as an outdated "civil rights era" discussion. Even though the district's elementary schools are now segregated, he dismissed the issue, citing the town's overall high test scores.

Equally if not more appalling, at the state level, Commissioner Stefan Pryor and the State Board of Education are on an unrestrained campaign to expand the number of charter schools, leading to even greater racial isolation. In the name of "education reform," they revive the words of George Wallace and trample upon the dream of Martin Luther King.

Why should school segregation be a concern? Decades of research, based on real-life experiences, prove that integrated education has a profound and direct impact on reducing racial stereotypes and prejudice, lasting into adulthood, for children of all races. Products of school integration are more at ease with people of different backgrounds and seek out integrated environments for their children. In many cases, the impact of integrated school experiences was most evident after the students finished school. Adult graduates of integrated schools have a superior ability to navigate diverse, cross-cultural work and societal settings, as compared to those who were not educated in integrated schools. Moreover, the studies controlled for other factors, making it clear that being in an integrated environment on a daily basis in school was the cause of more tolerant attitudes. Indeed, a substantial number of graduates grew up in segregated neighborhoods and would not have interacted with children of different races otherwise.

Many of the graduates had more positive racial attitudes than their parents. One white woman noted her comfort in any neighborhood in her city, as compared to her mother's panic when even driving through predominately non-white areas. Graduates overwhelmingly felt that despite any difficulties of integration, such as longer bus rides or occasional tensions, the experience was valuable. Furthermore, the research confirmed that the earlier children are exposed to integrated settings the better.

These graduates understand that some of the most important lessons in public schools extend beyond books. As one remarked: "I think that I learned something there that you can't teach anybody. ... I just learned a lot by being around so many different kinds of people." Another observed that "I know a lot of people who ... test really well, but you put them out in the real world and ... they can't make it."

The kind of education these students received, that broadened their emotional as well as intellectual horizons, is exactly what our nation's founders envisioned. As Thomas Jefferson declared, an education that safeguards democracy is one that erases "the tyranny and oppressions of body and mind."

This comprehensive vision of education has been replaced by a narrow-minded focus on measured results -- test scores. So it is no wonder that integrated schools are not a priority for educational policy makers. Consequently, American school segregation is on the rise. Rather than work to reverse this trend, our leaders push programs, such as school choice, that increase segregation.

As our nation becomes increasingly diverse, persistent racism tears at our social fabric. By abandoning school integration, we miss the opportunity not only to ensure a stronger democracy, but to equip all our children with the tools to thrive in our multicultural society and global economy.

Wendy Lecker is a columnist for Hearst Connecticut Media Group and is senior attorney for the Campaign for Fiscal Equity project at the Education Law Center.